115 soldiers killed in South Sudan clashes

At least 115 soldiers from South Sudan’s rival factions were killed in gun battles in the capital Juba, a military spokesman for the opposition said on Saturday, amid fears for a fragile peace process in a country still reeling from a two-year war.

Gunfire erupted on Friday evening near the state house where President Salva Kiir and vice president Riek Machar, former rivals, were meeting for talks, Reuters reported.

Both men said they did not know what had triggered the latest fighting between their factions and called for calm.

William Gatjiath Deng, spokesman for Machar’s military faction, said the fighting had occurred near the state house and in army barracks.

“In the morning we collected and counted 35 (dead) from the SPLM-IO (Machar’s faction) and 80 people from the government forces,” he said.

Deng said the death toll could rise on Machar’s side “because there are some soldiers seriously wounded.”

The government side had no immediate comment on the situation in Juba.

At least five soldiers were killed on Thursday in similar clashes between the two sides.